James R. Mirick sets the record straight on things he cares about

Immigration and Innovation in Technology

Don’t know if I’m happy or sad about the following, from an AP article:

Foreign-born entrepreneurs were behind one in four U.S. technology startups over the past decade, according to a study to be published Thursday. A team of researchers at Duke University estimated that 25 percent of technology and engineering companies started from 1995 to 2005 had at least one senior executive — a founder, chief executive, president or chief technology officer — born outside the United States. Immigrant entrepreneurs’ companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to the survey.

Their contributions to corporate coffers, employment and U.S. competitiveness in the global technology sector offer a counterpoint to the recent political debate over immigration and the economy, which largely centers on unskilled, illegal workers in low-wage jobs.

I’m a firm believer that immigrants (and they should be legal ones, but that’s another issue) bring to us much more than they “cost,” so I’m glad to see this kind of analysis, but the counter-thought is: where are our native-born innovators? Gates and others have lamented that there aren’t enough computer science graduates here to fulfill their needs, so they go get them offshore. This isn’t being driven by cheap wages, it’s a question of whether or not these companies will be able to get enough workers to function in the future.

Yet, I also hear that US citizens aren’t going into Computer Science and MIS programs because they are afraid there won’t be any jobs for them, they’ll all be in India or China. I can attest to that choice — I haven’t taught at the University of Minnesota for two years because there aren’t enough business / MIS graduate students — they’re all going into Finance programs instead.

I hope this isn’t happening because our kids have lost the willpower to take on a hard major or graduate program in Computer Science, or that they’ve become fat and complacent and unwilling to take risks and create innovation. I don’t know, I see a lot of young people with a pretty high sense of entitlement: why take technology risks, I can make more money just flipping around other people’s money!

The best analytical document I have found on the challenges of developing an effective immigration policy is here.